Electric launch science and technology in the United States

Emphasis in United States research in electric launch science and technology continues to focus primarily on under- standing the fundamental physics and enabling technical issues for achieving hypervelocities. Programs to launch large structures (aircraft and space vehicles) at moderately low velocities also continue, mainly addressing the engineering challenges. Although research topics in electric launch remain much the same as in past years, the level of detailed modeling and experiments of complex electromagnetic systems has increased dramatically. The U.S. Army is aggressively pursuing the engineering of an advanced electrothermal chemical (ETC) launcher, but in parallel, has a strong computational and experimental effort to determine the fundamental interactions occurring at the plasma/propellant interface. For electromagnetic launchers, most of the effort is directed toward improved computational tools, exploitation of these tools for detailed understanding of transient electrodynamic phenomena, novel diagnostics, and experiments to resolve remaining critical issues such as transition from solid to arc contacts in railguns, improved computational techniques for pulsed power systems, and application of these tools to design new high-energy pulsed-power sources. New methods of testing and determining the critical properties of advanced materials, such as composites, are being developed to enable these materials to be evaluated in extreme thermal and electromechanical environments. Additionally, the U.S. Navy is also in the process of initiating hypervelocity electromagnetic launch efforts for extremely long-range artillery systems employing high-G novel projectiles. Other applications of electric launch technology, such as hypervelocity powder deposition and electromagnetic gun launch to space, continue to offer new and interesting opportunities.